


like, regular people

by djhedy



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Family, Feels, Fluff, M/M, POV Aaron Minyard, does what it says on the tin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:20:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28293009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djhedy/pseuds/djhedy
Summary: Aaron has a message from Katelyn on his phone, he knows because she’s the only one who sends two sharply in a row, usually something important if it’s while he’s on shift, followed up by two little kisses, more if she’s asking for something like a favour or forgiveness. He leaves it in his pocket while he works; it isn’t meant to be there anyway, but Katelyn’s been acting weird for days and he can’t shake the feeling that she’s building up to tell him something horrible.-a not-so-unpleasant-after-all surprise is waiting for aaron when he gets home on christmas eve.
Relationships: Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 9
Kudos: 205





	like, regular people

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ominous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ominous/gifts).



> for adriana, because i thought you'd like some kateaaron fluff and twinyard feels for the holidays. xxx

Aaron has a message from Katelyn on his phone, he knows because she’s the only one who sends two sharply in a row, usually something important if it’s while he’s on shift, followed up by two little kisses, more if she’s asking for something like a favour or forgiveness. He leaves it in his pocket while he works; it isn’t meant to be there anyway, but Katelyn’s been acting weird for days and he can’t shake the feeling that she’s building up to tell him something horrible.

He stays at work an extra hour, follows the first years around like he’s there to help out until his supervisor tells him to go home, merry christmas, have a nice break, see you in two days.

Aaron shrugs out of his scrubs, stuffs them into his locker, smiles a little as he always does, remembering doing the same for years with orange and white, and now usually green or blue – or a grey one with little blue whales that Katelyn got him if he’s having a good day – and checks his phone.

_there’s a surprise waiting at home, don’t be mad at me_

_xxxxx_

Aaron frowns at his phone, and heads out to the car.

There’s a maserati in his driveway.

Aaron sits in his car at least three minutes, letting nostalgic anger swirl around in his head, his gut, squeezing the steering wheel a little, reminding himself they’re grown-ups now, they’re meant to have a relationship, it’s Christmas, of course Katelyn invited them, reminding himself that Bee said once _it’s ok to feel opposing things: it’s ok to still be angry with him; it’s ok to want to let go of it._

He hasn’t been to therapy since college. Wonders if Andrew still goes. If he ever managed to get Neil to.

They don’t talk about stuff like that.

He knows their team’s stats, the volunteer work they do with children in the system, what they’re watching on Netflix.

They know about his residency, the kitchen remodelling him and Katelyn are saving up for in the house they could only just afford, what he and Kate are watching on Netflix.

They probably know how tired he is all the time, he thinks, looking in the wing mirror at the circles under his eyes.

He sighs, and opens the door, and manages not to slam it shut behind him, and trudges up the path to his home.

Inside there’s music, and a soft trickle of laughter, and he takes his coat off, and then his shoes, and heads into the living room.

“Hey,” he says.

Katelyn smiles widely at him. “Hi, you’re home.”

Neil and Andrew look up from the sofa, matching expressions of practised disinterest.

Aaron nods at them. “This is a surprise.”

Neil says, “It’s Christmas,” like obviously they were going to come.

“You didn’t say,” says Aaron, looking to Kate.

Her smile wavers. “It was a last minute thing,” she says with a glance to Neil. “I wanted them to be here. I thought it would be a nice surprise.” This is a lie, which means something is going on. “Is that ok?”

“Of course it is,” Aaron says, feeling blank, not looking at his brother as he takes a seat across from him for the first time in two years. “You just get in?”

Andrew nods, and Neil says, “Took two days to drive here.”

“Could have just flown.”

“Nah,” says Neil with a bit of a smirk at Andrew.

Aaron looks away from it. “Kate, can I talk to you a sec?”

She nods, and hands a book to Neil, as if ending a conversation Aaron hadn’t been here for – because he hadn’t been told – because he came home late – because he was avoiding Katelyn – and follows him into the kitchen with damp on the walls and a crack in the ceiling and cupboard doors which don’t all shut properly.

Aaron leans against the counter and crosses his arms, waiting.

Katelyn sighs, and leans against the fridge. “Listen, don’t be mad with me.”

“I’m not mad.”

“It’s just – it’s Christmas. And you never say it but I know you miss them.”

“I do not.”

“Andrew, then.”

Aaron says nothing. Then, “I do not.”

Katelyn nods, the little one she does when she’s placating him. That makes Aaron kind of mad. He says, “You could have told me.”

“You would have said no.”

They’re speaking quietly, but Aaron is still worried they’ll be overheard, so he just looks away, picks up a dirty bowl, and starts washing it.

Katelyn walks up behind him, wraps her hands around his middle, hooks her chin over his shoulder.

He scrubs.

She says, “Aaron, love, don’t be mad at me. I wanted them here, ok? They’re your family.” She kisses his neck, and Aaron stiffens, and then all the air leaves his body. He turns around and digs his face into her neck, soapy hands on her back.

Katelyn smiles against his head. “Don’t be mad, baby.”

“M’not,” he says, muffled. Kisses her neck. Puts a soapy hand up her shirt and tickles her waist.

Katelyn wriggles away and punches him on the shoulder. “Asshole.”

“Gorgeous.”

He kisses her properly, feeling all his anger melt away, like it always does in her presence, and he’s so grateful, so unbelievably grateful for her, that he can’t bring himself to be angry with her. He plants a final kiss to the side of her mouth, says, “Just don’t leave me alone with them,” squeezes her waist in warning.

She plants hands on his shoulders, squeezes them a little, amusement on her face. “I wouldn’t dare.”

He’s late home, but it’s mid-afternoon, Christmas eve, because he’s been working a shift and a half, and hasn’t slept since – yesterday? the day before? – so Katelyn kisses him on each eyelid and says, “Go. Nap. I don’t think Neil will let Andrew kill me.”

Aaron frowns and nods and hugs her one more time, and sighs into her hair and says, “Love you.”

And she nods back and says, “Love you,” and Aaron heads upstairs to sleep.

He doesn’t sleep well, or easily; tosses and turns for an hour before lightly sleeping another hour before giving up. It’s better than nothing, and he’s used to nothing.

He can smell baking and whisky as he pads into the kitchen, a cool glass pressed into his hand. He sniffs it, arches an eyebrow at Andrew. Andrew lifts his own glass briefly making eye-contact before sipping at it and looking away. Aaron sips his own. Disgusting. But he feels the warmth collect somewhere deep down. “Burns,” he says.

“Ungrateful,” Andrew says.

Aaron smiles.

Neil and Katelyn are playing a card game that Aaron recognises, and Andrew is whispering into Neil’s ear, so Aaron sits down. “What’s the game?”

“Goose,” says Neil, not looking up as he and Katelyn exchange cards rapidly.

Aaron looks at the side of Katelyn’s face. “Are you winning?”

Katelyn’s face screws up, and Aaron smiles, and kisses the side of her head.

Andrew gives him a bit of a glare, and whispers in Neil’s ear, and then Neil is smirking and switching out which cards he’s playing, and Katelyn makes an annoyed sound, and Aaron says, “Hey, no cheating.”

Andrew looks at him. “Boring.”

“My house, my rules.”

Andrew raises his eyebrows and Neil says, “Borrrrrring. Katelyn you’ll let me cheat won’t you.”

Katelyn says, “Aaron, honey, kick Neil in the shin.”

Aaron kicks Neil in the shin.

Katelyn can’t drink, because she has a morning shift on Christmas day, but she lingers around at the end of the evening, asks Aaron to help her change the sheets on the guest bed. Upstairs, he presses her into the wall and kisses her, not intending it to go anywhere, knowing she needs rest for work tomorrow. She smiles against his lips and says, “The bed.”

“Mm,” says Aaron. “They can sleep on the floor for all I care.”

Katelyn presses her thumb into his cheek, then kisses the spot, then he pulls away, and they make the bed.

Downstairs Neil and Andrew are sitting in silence on the sofa. Andrew with his head in his phone, Neil with eyes closed and head resting on the arm, feet in Andrew’s lap. Aaron comes in, sits on the armchair opposite, and taps his fingers on the arm. “How long you staying?”

“A few days.”

“How many days is a few?”

Andrew looks up. “Not a good surprise, then.”

Aaron is quiet, waits until Neil excavates himself from Andrew’s lap, from the sofa, and takes a random book from the shelf as he moves through to the kitchen, shuts the door behind him.

Aaron says, “It’s not that it isn’t a good surprise.”

“Hmm.”

Aaron thinks about it. “Kate knows I don’t like surprises.”

Something unfamiliar tugs at Andrew’s lips, something like a small smile. He says, “How about that. Neil knows I do not either. Does not stop him from producing them.”

Aaron smiles. He reaches for the tv remote, pauses, aborts the motion, sits back and says, “It’s – good to see you.”

Andrew nods. And asks, “How is the hospital?”

“Good. And the team?”

Andrew tilts his head, considering. “Neil has made too many friends.”

Aaron laughs, and the kitchen door opens again. “Have you got any tea?”

Aaron grins, stands up and says, “Tea? Since when?”

“He’s pretending he’s British,” says Andrew, standing too and moving through to the kitchen with them.

Neil frowns as Andrew settles on top of a counter and Aaron roots through cupboards. “I’m not, but Kevin says –”

“Oh it’s a Kevin thing,” says Aaron. “Gotcha.”

“Whipped,” says Andrew, as if that explains it (which it does).

Neil looks thoroughly annoyed as Aaron presents him with rooibos or camomile.

They drink tea, and whisky, round the kitchen table, and Aaron says, “How is that one kid – Cami?”

Andrew and Neil share a look, and Neil says, “She’s – a handful.”

“The devil,” Andrew confirms, and Aaron smirks. “But, it is not difficult to get through to her.”

“ _Andrew_ says that, but he’s the only one she talks to still,” Neil says, frowning. His expression softens a little as he says, “Andrew is naturally talented with kids. Who would have guessed?”

Aaron hums, and says nothing. He and Neil share a look that says they would have guessed, that they were Andrew’s first and fourth projects, that they understand Andrew cares for others before himself, to the detriment of both his and his projects’ safety.

It’s taken Aaron years to forgive Andrew.

He still hasn’t really.

It’s nice to see them.

Aaron wakes up in the middle of the night to a kiss to the cheek, turns his face and captures the kiss in his mouth, sighs to the feel of a chuckle against him, and promptly falls back asleep.

When he wakes again, Katelyn is gone, and he throws on pyjamas and walks up to Andrew and Neil’s room. He checks his watch, then bangs on the door. “Wake up, assholes.”

It takes a minute for Andrew to answer the door. “I’m _awake_.”

Aaron looks in. “Where’s – oh don’t tell me.” Andrew nods. “How does he even know where to run?”

Andrew shrugs, pulling on a hoody over his pyjama pants and following Aaron out. “He always knows.”

They go to the living room first, and Andrew stands there awkwardly and says, “I’m going for a smoke.” He turns, hesitates, and says, “Don’t tell Neil,” before slamming the front door behind him.

Aaron smirks, flops down on the sofa with a pen and paper, and turns the tv on. There’s some cartoon christmas monster he recognises, and he lets the rhythmic children’s dialogue wash over him as he compiles his list.

When Andrew returns Aaron says, “He’ll smell it on you,” and out of the corner of his eye Andrew sniffs his hoody before sighing and leaving the room. Aaron hears the shower run a minute later, and when Andrew comes back downstairs he’s wearing black sweatpants and a black and white christmas sweater, and Aaron’s list is done.

“When does she get back?” Andrew asks.

“4pm.”

“Give me something to do.”

They work together side by side, and when Neil gets back he kisses Andrew on the cheek, tracking dirt into the kitchen floor before Aaron tells him to take his shoes off at the same time as Andrew tells him to take his sweaty clothes off. Neil laughs as Andrew scowls and Aaron turns away and it’s – not terrible.

Andrew is making pigs in blankets, and Aaron is bending to look at his turkey every five minutes, and when Neil returns he’s on washing up duty which, according to both Andrew and Neil, is the only thing he can be trusted with. Neil washes up slowly, singing along badly to the christmas songs on the radio, looking out the window at their small backyard.

Aaron is peeling vegetables while Andrew mixes ingredients for a double chocolate fudge cake when Neil says, “What do people do on Christmas day?”

Both twins look up simultaneously, and Aaron notices even if Andrew is busy staring at his boyfriend. Aaron doesn’t know if some things will ever go away. Andrew says, “Explain.”

Neil turns his head, arms soapy in the sink, and says, “Like, regular people.”

Aaron shakes his head. “How would we know?”

Neil turns back round. “Let’s make some up.”

So they do. Neil’s suggestions are largely about spending time with people he doesn’t know or like or trust – which Aaron hints is everyone; Andrew’s suggestions are largely about what Christmas would be like if there was an alien invasion, whether the aliens would bring their own dishes – which Neil gets too involved in; and Aaron’s are about family.

There’s an awkward silence during which Neil straightens and says, “Good thing we’re here then,” and turns back to the sink as if he hasn’t said anything unusual or awkward, because that’s what Neil likes, and when Aaron glances at Andrew, his brother is staring at Neil like he still doesn’t understand where he came from.

Aaron clears his throat, stares down at his carrots and says, “Good thing,” and turns to put them in the oven.

“Not there,” Aaron snaps, taking the dish out of Andrew’s hand and placing it slightly to the left.

“I did not know you were an expert,” Andrew says.

“That doesn’t even make any sense, an expert in what, table arranging?”

“In being a pain in the ass.”

“Ooh,” says Neil from where he’s kneeling on the sofa and looking out the window. “Katelyn’s home. What are we doing, hiding?”

Aaron can’t decide whether to be amused or irritated, and that annoys him, because once upon a time he knew just to be irritated. “Why the fuck would we hide?”

Neil climbs off the sofa and shrugs and says. “Like a surprise birthday.”

So they hide, Aaron still clutching the chocolate cake as he ducks under the table, Neil behind the curtain and Andrew stepping to the side so he’s covered by the door into the living room. The front door opens, and closes, and Katelyn yells, “Smells amazing! I’m exhausted,” and walks into the living room. “Where is everyone?”

Aaron isn’t sure if they’re supoosed to jump out or what, so he stands, feeling embarrassed, and says, “Surprise?”

“Merry Christmas,” says Neil as he flops onto the floor from behind the sofa.

Andrew takes a step out from behind the door and Katelyn jumps a little, and then blushes, and Andrew rolls his eyes and walks to the kitchen, and then Katelyn notices the heaving dinner table and says, “Oh my god babe, that looks incredible. You guys must have been working all day.”

“Yeah,” says Aaron, kissing her around the chocolate cake. “Not as easy as saving lives.”

Katelyn grins, “Just let me shower, I’ll be five minutes.”

“Wait,” says Aaron on impulse, handing Neil the cake. “I’ve got a better idea.” Katelyn grins and tucks her face into Aaron’s neck.

“Gross,” says Neil, looking cheerful and placing the cake on the table.

“Don’t tell Andrew,” says Aaron, arms around Katelyn’s waist and walking her up the stairs.

They grab plates of food from the table, but end up sat on the floor, Neil with his legs over Andrew’s lap and Aaron and Katelyn with shoulders touching.

They turn on the tv to find something to watch, and Andrew stops at some Christmas movie and Neil groans and says, “I hate Christmas movies.”

“You hate movies,” Andrew says.

“Don’t we also hate Christmas?” Aaron points out.

“Oh I love this one,” says Katelyn, brightening. Aaron puts down his plate, wraps an arm around her neck, and kisses her on the cheek, her smile filling the entire room.

They watch the movie, and after they’re silent for the first half an hour, Katelyn says they’re allowed to make fun, and Neil breaks out into the most scathing review of anything he’s ever given, and Katelyn is laughing, so Aaron isn’t mad, it’s funny, and he doesn’t even mind the focus Andrew has on him, rubbing his feet when he’s done eating, and egging him on whenever Neil starts to run out of steam.

And they mull some wine, and Katelyn gets drunk after a long day at work, and Katelyn and says to Andrew, “You are not half-bad,” and Andrew scoffs, and Neil gives her an approving look.

And it _isn’t_ awful, and when they’re getting ready for bed Aaron says, “Maybe we can come to you next year.”

And Andrew looks frozen, but Neil sighs heavily and says, “I guess,” as he walks up the stairs, and Andrew glares after him, but Aaron just laughs, and that seems to relax Andrew’s frame a little.

And Andrew says, “Whatever,” and heads up to bed.

And in his bed, the one he bought with Katelyn, the cheapest they could find, rolling around in it in the store saying things like “delightful” and “dreamy” and “delectable” while feeling springs in their back, he turns and takes Katelyn’s face in his hands, and kisses her, and says, “Thank you.”

And Katelyn smiles, and says, “Merry Christmas, Aaron.”


End file.
